Two days later, Azriel walked along the road towards the temple which was situated in the middle of the city.
He was not alone as several other teenagers were walking along with him, along with their parents some even had rides.
Azriel looked around as he took in the environment, even though he had taken a tour around the day before, he had not toured around the temple area.
Just as he had gotten some meters away from the temple, he paused and frowned before looking towards his right at a group of teenagers who stood there while looking at him, Azriel could see the disdain in their eyes and his frown deepened when he saw the boy in the middle.
"Kael..." Azriel muttered.
Kael walked up to Azriel and looked up at him with a frown, being a whole foot shorter than Azriel, he had to look up at him and he did not like that. Seeing his frown, Azriel smirked as he understood.
"Guess the genes don't run through completely, huh?" Azriel mocked before he looked behind Kael at the group of four who seem to be watching a show.
"Can't believe you did move along with strays, guess your inferiority had gotten into your brain" Azriel continued as he stared down at Kael who frowned as he gritted while wishing he could punch Azriel.
Hearing his words, the four others walked up and glared at Azriel.
"That's rich coming from someone who was disowned" The only girl said with a sneer to which Azriel chuckled.
"At least the name I took sounds better than Ragnar, Necroline sounds way chill" Azriel grinned before patting Kael's shoulder, he turned around and walked towards the temple.
Their episode was seen by a few people and could be easily ignored as they made little ruckus.
Sometime later, everyone had gathered before a podium, where a swirling blue portal sat, Seven people stood around it in addition with this priest made them eight. Amongst them were El Ragnar, Azriel's Aunt,Morgana and four others who were part of the ducal families.
Azriel stood in his position while checking out his record as he noticed an additional tab.
[Quests]
Quests can be given at random, caused by situations or on the requests of the host, rewards given would be determined by the difficulty of the quest.
Azriel caressed his chin as his eyes glinted, he decided to have the record give him a quest concerning the upcoming training in the secret realm.
[Quest issued]
[Info: Before the conclusion of the training, you are required to reach Two-star Mortal Order and Above]
[Rewards:Would be determined by the level of how the quest was completed]
Azriel rose an eyebrow and asked what the record meant.
[Quest completion rate are divided into eight, F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, therefore rewards would be issued based on your completion rate]
Seeing this made,Azriel grin before he closed the record and looked forward to completing the quest, to him, it was not hard, they had three months of training, others might think it was absurd to reach two stars or three stars, Azriel was never an unconventional person.
"After the three months in the secret realm, the entrance exam for Arcadia Institute would begin immediately, those who get into the top five would have the chance of selecting which zone they can enter, the rest would be selected by the zone head" the priest said.
"Now before you go into the secret realm, you'll be given a bracelet which serves as a means of protection and tracker, if you encounter danger to your life, you will be immediately ejected out of the secret realm"
Azriel looked at the silver bracelet he had collected, he could see a set of rune inscriptions on it. After checking it out, he wore it on his left wrist.
"Now, do not be complacent, even with this measures, there is a chance of dying in there, so focus on accumulating experience and getting stronger..." The priest paused as he looked at the teenagers below before sighing.
"...now, in a single line, make your way into the secret realm, we would watch your performance from here"
As soon as the priest finished, the teenagers rushed and formed a line as they walked into the secret realm. Azriel did not join the line as he waited for the crowd to thin out before he would join the line.
"Won't you join the line?" A cherry voice asked.
Azriel turned his head to look at the speaker, it was a beastman, he had cat-like ears and a tail, he had a ripped figure which was visible from his tank top, coupled with his cargo pants and boots. His hair was long most reaching his waist.
Azriel could feel a subtle heat emanating from him, and he could also tell that he was just a zero star mortal order.
"Who are you?"
"Lionel Freyer of the Freyer Clan" the beastman said with a grin.
"Freye clan of the desert...how did you get here?" Azriel asked.
"Guess you do not know, the akashic temple is not so simple, the entrance of the temple leads to myriads of worlds, but you can only go back the way you came" Lionel said while looking at Azriel with raised eyebrow.
"So the temple is a world on its own...don't look at me like that, I never studied anything about the temple...the line has thinned out" Azriel said before he rushed towards the line and joined in at the back.
Lionel looked at his back and a strange glint appeared in his eyes as his lips curved into a smile, then he saw Azriel look towards one of the people standing around the portal, he noticed the hate in his eyes.
"El Ragnar?" Lionel muttered to himself before joining the line, when he got closer, he looked towards El and noticed the resemblance he had with Azriel aside from their hair color.
"So he is Azriel" Lionel thought to himself while flashing a grin at El who looked at him like he was an idiot.
Unperturbed, he walked into the portal.
Azriel opened his eyes and found himself in a dilapidated city, everything was either destroyed or was on the edge of crumbling, but that was not what was troubling, he was surrounded.
Bears with white fur and gleaming red eyes stared at Azriel, they were six in number but Azriel could still notice that there were more around them.
Instead of feeling scared, Azriel grinned with delight, he had always wanted to experience something like this, as he had always envied those guys he read during his time on earth.
Meanwhile, those in the temple paled at the sight as they watched.
"Head Priest what is going on?" Morgana asked as she looked at the priest who seem unperturbed.
"The location of teleportation is random but most times the location would choose a place where they can unleash themselves, he is not the only one facing monsters above his level..." The priest said before he waved his hand and a screen came up, it was of Lionel who had taken on his beast form,his opponents were minotaurs.
"The secret realm has judged them as promising"
El frowned at the priest's words before looking towards Kael's screen, he was facing gargoyles while hurling fireballs at them.
"..."
*****
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